Do you really think that the fuel cost disparity will remain? How does the government plan to pay for road maintenance if they don’t tack on a hefty tax on electricity for use in vehicles. And yes, I would mind waiting out on I-5 in the heat for half an hour to charge up my vehicle. And here we are, on the one hand, we are shutting down reliable coal fired plants, while we are trying to convince a stupid public that electric cars are the immediate answer. Now, if we had gone ahead with nuclear power, the case for electric vehicles is a good deal more plausible. I just read the other day that when you look at a Nissan Leaf (all electric) and a Honda Civic (with an IC engine) that when you factor in the generating efficiency, and the transmission and charging losses, that the true MPG of the Leaf is about the same as the Honda if the generating source is oil-fired. I am a professional Mechanical Engineer, and I believe in technology. That said, electric vehicles as a transportation solution are not much more than a technical curiosity at this juncture despite the fact that as a prime mover, an electric motor is much better than an IC engine. Finally for what it’s worth, I have a neighbor who has both a Chevy Volt and a Prius. He says that the Volt, by far is a much better vehicle. It’s big enough so you feel comfortable and it’s overall efficiency is better than the Prius. I guess how these vehicles get deployed depends on the uses to which people want to put them. Even with the high cost of gasoline today, it is still not the major cost associated with owning a car.
Of course, if the Federal Government puts a massive tax on electricity then the equation would indeed change, but until they do it is much much cheaper per mile to operate an electric vehicle. (Unless you factor in the price premium due to the fact that current batteries with that kind of capacity are very expensive. This is why I don’t own an electric car).
With regard to efficiency of power sources, the ultimate test is the cost of the energy and since only a small, small fraction of the electricity on the grid comes from oil fired power plants, the efficiency advantage of EV’s are likely to remain significant.
How much time do you spend on I-5 in gas stations over the course of a month, Probably close to 30 minutes. However, in an EV with a 300 mile range that charges while you sleep, you will only need to stop at all on trips over 6 hours in duration. If a 30 minute stop every six hours is too inconvienient for the massive cost savings in terms the energy cost of gas vs. electricity, then don’t buy one.
Personally, for all it’s advantages in terms of operating and maintenance costs, the initial cost of the vehicle is too high due to the high cost of batteries. However several promising batteries promise to more than double energy density while cutting costs by more than one half. Even without any breakthrough, battery energy density is improving at 7-10% per year. So, when the technology becomes affordable to the point that any price premium is recovered in 3 years or less, I’ll buy one.
Until then, I’ll just continue to buy the most fuel efficient ICE car that suits my purposes. I would consider a Leaf for an around town/ short commuter car, but only if if the price came down by another 10K.